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The Editor's Desk: Thoughts on cycling in Athens

Earlier this month, I participated in Bike To Work Week, succeeding in riding my bike from the eastside to downtown on four of the five days of the work week.

In connection with Bike To Work Week, I asked people to share their experience with cycling in Athens. Because election coverage and commentary intervened, those responses have been languishing in my email inbox, but I’d like to share them with you today.

First, I’ll offer some extended excerpts from an email that you may see in its entirety as a guest column as soon as I’m able to get in touch with the author for permission to use it in that way.

Anyway, the email, from someone who has previously lived in Austin, San Francisco and Boulder, noted, “I am constantly surprised to hear Athens described as a ‘bike-friendly town’ ... I find Athens to be one of the least bike-friendly towns I have ever lived in. Narrow bike ‘lanes,’ with what amounts to a creepy chalk outline of a flattened cyclist painted on it; greenway paths that do not link anything to anywhere, dangerous main routes such as Prince Avenue and inconspicuous flashing crosswalk signs are not what I would consider to be conducive to a ‘friendly’ environment for cyclists. ...

“Bikes have to share lanes with cars and that causes cars to either come too close to cyclists when they pass, or to veer into oncoming traffic to allow for greater easement ... .”

The email then goes on to note that many European cities, and New York, “have a sidewalk for pedestrians, then a lane for bikes, then street parking and next to that is the traffic flow. It makes use of the natural buffer of parked cars ... Unfortunately, we have already designed most of our roads to accommodate moving cars first, then parked ones. Shoot, in Athens we even seem to poo-poo the use of sidewalks in most areas ... .

“There needs to be a sea change in the mentality of the drivers as well as physical ones on the street. ...

“While proper solutions would be expensive, when someone gets killed due to lack of concern and action on the part of Athens-Clarke County government (and it is a matter of when and not if), the price of implementing these solutions will seem like a bargain.”

I also received an email from someone who urged cyclists to take responsibility for their own safety on the roads. The email read, in part, “I’m a longtime, occasional bicycle rider in Athens and other places I’ve lived. Despite a few scary or, mostly, maddening near-sideswipes, etc., by motorists, I’ve had no accidents. ...

“I don’t believe any but the rarest driver would intentionally hit a pedestrian or bicyclist. Some may disrespect you, come too close to you, but serious accidents are likely caused by drivers not seeing you until it’s too late. ...

“People walking and riding at night may not realize how dangerous it is, and how hard they are to see unless they wear white clothing or bright lights. (Even pedestrians can wear a cheap, flashing bike light that will clip on your clothing.)

“We bicyclists and pedestrians want drivers to respect us, but they can’t do that unless they can see us. Of course, they should be looking for us. We need to make that easier, not harder.”